the person in whose name the policy is issued legally is known as policy holder
the person who gains insurance cover is known as beneficiary ,it may be himself or dependents(nominees)
When the policy holder dies, the money goes to the beneficiary. If the beneficiary then dies, THEIR beneficiary then gets the money.
The policy holder has the choice to change the name of the beneficiary at any time, including after the death of a named beneficiary. If the policy holder doesn't change the name of the beneficiary after the beneficiaries death, depending on what state you live in it goes to next of kin.
Annuitant is the original policy holder and receiver of benefits while beneficiary is the one legally authorized receiver of benefits in case of death of the annuitant.
The holder is the owner, In the case of Life Insurance , the person paid is the beneficiary .
Can you re-phrase this question? After the policy has been paid (to the beneficiary), there is no amount left.
I think that you're refering to an "irrevocable" beneficiary. This means that the beneficiary designation can only be changed if both the policy holder (owner) AND the current beneficiary sign off on it.
In any life insurance policy, though there is provision for appointment of nominee, on maturity the proceeds will be payable to the policy holder if he/she is alive. By this way, the owner of the policy and the beneficiary is the same person.
the house is paid off and given to the beneficiary
Do you mean as owner or as beneficiary? Either way, yes.
In case of death of the policy holder, with beneficiary already deceased and there is no will, the Insurance Company will pay only to the Legal Heir of the Policy Holder. The death claim will be kept in abeyance till the legal heir proves his legal identity to the satisfaction of the Insurance Company.
If the beneficiary of a policy has died, the estate of the beneficiary can still collect the insurance payment, assuming that the beneficiary does have an heir or heirs of some kind (as most people do). Note that this is a fairly unusual situation, because normally when a beneficiary dies, a new beneficiary is named. There is no reason to allow the policy to have no living beneficiary, unless the insured and the beneficiary happen to die at about the same time, and there is no time to name a new beneficiary.
If the girlfriend is still alive then she can change her beneficiary. If she died and didn't change her beneficiary then you may have a claim if her estate went to your father. You should speak to an attorney. You refer to a "policy holder" in your question as well as an "estate". If the subject is a life insurance policy and your father was the beneficiary but was deceased when the insured died then be aware that the girlfriend probably named a contingent beneficiary on her policy.